


For Worse Or For Better

by ReadingIsEverything



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 08:08:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11459508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadingIsEverything/pseuds/ReadingIsEverything
Summary: Meredith Grey and Addison Montgomery have been best friends since they were teenagers and this story tells what happens when friendship becomes something more. Please enjoy. Keep on living and keep on smiling. :)





	1. First Day.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. I'm back. For those of you keeping up with "Family Affair," don't worry because I'll update that soon. Please enjoy this and keep in mind that I am completely blind and therefore I do not know what the characters and places look like. I will do the best I can. Keep on living and keep on smiling. :)

Meredith Grey and Addison Montgomery were the best friends anyone had ever or could ever really meet. They were pretty much inseparable and people often said, “I swear, where the hell are Mer and Addie?”  
One was never really seen without the other for an extensive period of time. And so, it was only natural that they would go to the same medical school—Dartmouth—and become surgeons together. The only difference was that Meredith had elected to specialize in general and neurosurgery, while Addison decided to take up neonatal surgery and genetics after they had finished their residencies. The two had already planned ahead a great deal. They were only interns, yet they were already sure of what they wanted. Meredith had told Addison once that she really loved the idea that she could help save such an important organ in the body as a neurosurgeon, but she also loved the fact she could also do minor procedures that could end up saving a life. On the other hand, The other woman found something so utterly magical about helping someone create life.  
Today was a very important day. It was the day the two would be starting their internship at Seattle Grace, the country’s top hospital. Meredith and Addison had extensively researched the place, learning from the all-knowing entity called Google that Seattle Grace was a Level One trauma center and it had been for over ten years in a row. In addition, both the neurosurgery and neonatal surgery departments were topnotch, along with the rest of the impressive facilities.

“Come on, Mer! We’re gonna be late!” Addison shouted up the stairs. She swore, sometimes her sister could be so annoying. The two had decided early on that they would be each other’s family, what with Meredith’s absent father and her neglectful mother and all and with Addison’s drunk father and resentful, workaholic mother. They had done this for eleven years and neither of them would change it for anything.

Addison heard the telltale sound of her roommate/sister making her (very loud) way down the stairs of their house and turned to look just as Meredith Grey, all in black-clad, blonde glory, made her entrance. Her hair was tied back in a bun and she wore the scrubs that Addison had jokingly ordered on Amazon.  
The other woman cracked up at that. She really wasn’t expecting Meredith to wear them at all. She was prepared for the blonde to throw them at her face and wear something else.

“Jeez, cool it, will you Addie?” Meredith huffed with mock annoyance, walking over and unceremoniously sprawling her tall frame over Addison as if the other woman was a couch.

The redhead pretended to glare at her friend. “No. Get off, Grey! Get off!” she shouted.  
Meredith laughed, a hearty, throaty sound that resonated in Addison’s chest and made her feel all warm and fuzzy for some inexplicable reason.  
“Watch me, Montgomery!” she retorted, before firmly planting her face in the very center of Addison’s chest, right in the center of her very ample cleavage.

They looked at each other, then burst out laughing simultaneously. “You’re an idiot, Grey,” Addison said affectionately, kissing her cheek. Meredith’s face spread into a wide, beaming grin. “I know,”she answered as she climbed off Addison.

Laughing and chattering to each other about anything and everything as they always did, the two women got ready for their first day of work.

“I wonder if our attending’s nice,” Meredith commented as they drove to Seattle Grace.

Addison swatted playfully at her sister’s arm. “We’re overseen by a resident, remember?” she said, making Meredith blush a little.  
The blonde looked sheepishly at her adopted sister. “Yeah, duh,” she corrected herself.

Soon, they had made their way to the tall building that housed Seattle Grace Medical Center.  
“You ready?” Addison asked as she and Meredith made their way over to the double doors that spilled cool, conditioned air out into the heat of the still-hot early fall day.  
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said, sounding a little nervous. Inhaling, the two women looked up at the building and walked in.

The entrance was cool and tastefully decorated, sterile like a hospital should be but not all-together drab. It was furnished with a large desk behind witch sat a receptionist and gleaming chrome doors held elevators that led further up the building.  
The two friends looked around until they spotted a short, stout woman standing with her hands on her hips and a look on her face that said “Don’t make me any madder than I already am.”

Meredith tried not to gulp too audibly. It wasn’t like she was normally a scaredy cat or anything; she was ordinarily as calm, cool and collected as a cucumber. However, the tiny woman made her blood run cold. She wasn’t scary like a monster in a movie or something; she was just intimidating. Very, very intimidating.

The pair looked at each other one last time before bravely moving across the room and standing in front of the woman, who was scanning what looked like a patient’s chart.  
“Can I help you?” she asked sharply.

The blonde gulped again.  
“We’re the new interns,” she said, the last word a tiny squeak.  
The woman, who’s badge read Miranda Bailey, M.D. humphed with very clear disapproval.  
“Did no one tell you the interns meet in the conference room?” she asked unsympathetically.

Meredith and Addison exchanged looks.  
“No.” They had not, in fact, been notified about that at all. They had just assumed someone would be meeting them or something kind of like when they had gone to college orientation.

Dr. Bailey humphed again.  
“Well, since you’re just a couple of infants, I guess I’m gonna have to hold your hands, right?” Her tone was syrupy sweet as she looked at them, but her eyes told a different story. They said she was just mocking them.

Both women sensed that this was a rhetorical question, kind of like when your mom told you to repeat the curse you had just uttered and she had very clearly heard, so they stayed silent.  
The surprisingly imposing woman looked them over again and nodded.  
“I’m not gonna do that though,” she explained. “YOu’re my interns, but I ain’t gonna coddle you like a bunch a babies. You need to grow and learn. That’s what you’ll do with me, but that’s all I’m doing. I expect you t become fine young doctors. Especially you, Grey, since you’re gonna be in one of my specialties I hear.”

Technically, they hadn’t yet decided on specialties, but since their moms had both had extensive careers here, people speculated, and they were mostly right.  
Dr. Bailey clapped her hands together, her expression businesslike as she addressed them.  
“You two have lots of time to put in and lots to learn before I call you doctors. For now, you’re Grey and Montgomery to me. Grey, Dr. Shepherd will oversee the other half of your training while Dr. Jackson will oversee all of yours, Montgomery, once you two have made your minds up. Who knows, you might just follow a different path.”  
Her expression softened for a moment as she looked at them. “Welcome to Seattle Grace,” she said before motioning them to follow her, the stoic facade back in place. As both women followed one of their new mentors (and one that would become an integral part of their lives) they both felt something shift in the air. They were starting their new lives, for better or worse.


	2. The Turning Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something very major happens. Hope you enjoy. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. My best friend helped a great deal with this chapter and with the story in general. Please enjoy. Here were go, folks. :)

Meredith and Addison had been working at Seattle Grace for a little over a month now. Their fellow interns, the two women had found, were really nice and friendly. Their was Lyn, whose family spanned generations upon generations, many of which Lyn said were doctors. Then, their was Jessie, the future orthopedic surgeon who had a voice like bells when she spoke and angels when she sang and Lugshmi, the dark-haired, dark-eyed immigrant from New Delhi who had worked her way through medical school by washing dishes for people who were unable and helping at children’s hospitals, volunteering to read to little kids when she could. Both Meredith and Addison agreed she was their favorite. Addison even teased her friend sometimes, saying Meredith had a crush on the beauty. Meredith denied it, even if it was a little true.

Now, the two friends sat at a little table together with the other interns in the interns’ lounge.  
“We’re a little short this year,” Lyn said, popping a lemony chip into her mouth and moaning in satisfaction. The others had learned very early on that Lyn Jackson loved nothing more than two things: surgery and junk food. She would spend her free time reading a good book and getting crumbs all over it in the process.  
“You are so slender, yet you eat so much,” Lugshmi commented once in her frank teasing way. She hadn’t meant anything by it, which had been obvious to the subject of the joke. Lyn had proceeded to stare the raven-haired girl down in a mock angry way.  
“You would eat a lot of junk food too if you could just pull yourself away from all that curry,” she retorted, before the two high fived.

Jessie was tall and muscular from hours lifting weights and helping cut trees down in her dad’s yard and in her own little shop where she sold miniature trees and plants. Now it was Meredith’s turn to tease Addison about having a crush.

Meredith walked into the room she had been asked to go to and sat on a small stool. She was meeting Dr. Shepherd, who would be teaching her about neurosurgery. She was excited because she absolutely loved this particular field and she couldn’t wait to get started. On the other hand, though, she was nervous for the simple reason that she was afraid she would royally screw up.  
Dr. Shepherd was a guy in his mid-thirties with brown hair and blue eyes, his smile infectious as he walked in.  
“You must be the new intern Miranda told me so much about,” he started, his voice a pleasant baritone as he addressed the nervous blonde.  
Meredith nodded, smiling shyly at him. She knew that Derek Shepherd was a great surgeon. She had read his two papers, both of which had been absolutely superb and which had been on the front cover of Neuron magazine two issues in a row. She had loved how he had been able to explain such complex concepts as brain mapping and neural imaging as if he were explaining something as simple as how to buy a box of cereal at the grocery store. He seemed so very passionate about the subject, and the younger woman could see it in his eyes as they started their lesson.

“So, tell me why you’re interested in euro,” Derek asked her after they had finished and were sitting together on a bench in his office, sharing a bag of Lays lemon chips.  
“Well, diseases like Alzheimer’s and depression exist. I want to try and be the one who cures those things,” Meredith answered. She kept her response short and sweet, but Derek could already tell she would be a great surgeon with a little training.

After the two girls had met all their mentors, they went to the showers to take a five minute dip and put on some fresh scrubs.  
They did rounds with Dr. Bailey next.  
Their first patient, which they were told to just observe and stay silent, was a young man named Daniel Cox. He was a former dancer who was hurt in an MVC. He had been in the car with his friends when another car had come up and rear ended him. His partner, George Cox, arrived a few minutes later as Dr. Bailey was explaining the severity of his condition to Daniel’s parents, looking frantic and hysterical with worry.

“He has three broken ribs and his left arm and leg have been broken in two places. He’s gonna need surgery for one of these ribs and he has possible head trauma, we aren’t sure to what extent,” she finished explaining to George, having started over after explaining to Daniel’s parents.

the other man looked so upset and a nurse handed him a water glass.  
“Thank you, he said gratefully after gulping down the contents, handing the cup back to the sympathetic nurse.

After running a CT, Derek confirmed there was nothing neurologically wrong with Daniel. Meredith and Addison were both left out of scrubbing in on the surgery to fix his rib. Instead, they were asked to do charts.

Meredith grumbled for the third time that hour.  
“Damn it, I went to med school so I wouldn’t be stuck doing paperwork,” she confided when Addison gave her a questioning look. “I am so tired. After all, I’m not used to staying up for twenty-four hours at a time.”  
Grinning, Addison handed the sleepy blond a coffee.  
“Thanks, Addie,” she said, gratitude in her voice as she took a sip. The scalding hot concoction woke her up a great deal as she finished it and she straightened up over the stack of patients; charts she had to finish still. She found it, privately at least, unfair that they were just sitting there when they could be learning how to be doctors and she had a feeling her sister agreed with her.

“So, what do you think of Dr. Shepherd and his dreamy looks?” Addison asked, smiling knowingly at Meredith, who seemed to have a crush on everyone she met. Both women were bi and both of them knew it.

Meredith pretended to glare at her friend. “Shut the fuck up, Addison,” she joked, reaching out and slapping at the redhead’s arm, then hugging her tightly. A familiar feeling of warmth filled Addison’s chest where her heart was. She knew, medically and logically and all that, that you didn’t really feel emotions with your heart, you felt them with your brain. Still, she couldn’t help the fuzzy feeling she felt but couldn’t really explain when she was around Meredith Grey, the smartest, most beautiful woman she knew. Whoa, where had that come from?

After staring at Meredith for a while as she worked (Addison had finished her work long ago), she decided to just fuck it. Leaning forward, she kissed Meredith full on the lips.


	3. Denial and Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things change forever for the first time. Please enjoy. Keep on living and keep unsmiling. :)

Fireworks went off in Addison’s brain as she kissed Meredith. Pulling away, a look of horror crossed her face.  
“Oh my God,” she murmured, looking at Meredith apologetically. “I’m so sorry. We’re sisters. I shouldn’t have done that. Sorry.”  
Meredith nodded her head, patting Addison’s head fondly. “It’s all good,” she responded, hugging her friend and moving on, making her way to the nurse’s station to drop off the huge pile of charts she had completed.

The whole day the two friends avoided each other. They were both denying what they had felt. While Addison had experienced fireworks, Meredith had seen bright, brilliant stars shining behind her eyelids, supernovas going off in her brain. Yeah, yeah, of course she was fully aware that this was impossible, but that was the best way to explain it. The feeling of kissing Addison Montgomery was as magical, amazing, wonderful and perfect as the romance novels she had read (and sometimes still read) in her spare time had made it out to be. As a matter of fact, the books hadn’t even done the experience justice.  
Suddenly, a feeling, revelation, epiphany, whatever you wanted to call it, came over Meredith. She, Meredith Grey, a surgical intern at Seattle Grace hospital, was in love with Addison Montgomery, her best friend, sister, former roommate through college and medical School (and now living with her full-time) and fellow surgical intern. She couldn’t feel this way, though. They were sisters. She couldn’t feel so utterly in love with the person she had spent so much of her time with and confided in for over a decade, who had been everything to her. And she certainly couldn’t tell Addison any of this either. She told Addison everything, but for obvious reasons, this would have to be kept away. She hated that she couldn’t tell Addie this, but it had to be done. Anyway, she was absolutely positive, deep in her heart, that Addison did not reciprocate. The young blonde was as sure of this heartbreaking fact as she was of her own name. Then again, when Addison Montgomery, bombshell and intellectual as fuck woman was kissing you, you tended to forget your name. Okay, Need to get rid of these thoughts, Meredith told herself sternly. What was really disturbing was that the inner voice she had in her head, at least in this case, sounded a lot like her mom.

Addison was finally allowed to scrub in on her first surgery with Dr. Loretta Jackson, head of the neonatal and genetics departments in her own right and world-renowned surgeon. Addison had a similar fangirl moment when she met the pretty middle-aged doctor. she was forty and loved cats, according to the shirt she wore under her lab coat. When Addison asked her shyly why she wasn’t just wearing scrubs, Loretta laughed.  
“When you’re as respected, hardworking and kickass as I am, Dr. Montgomery, nobody will give a damn what you wear.”

Addison grinned at the memory. They had had a fun time talking and getting to know each other. They had shared a box of plain glaze doughnuts on a bench. It seemed both Dr. Jackson and Dr. Shepherd were fond of taking their students on that bench and eating with them after their first lesson.

Now, Addison worked diligently as she held the retractor for Loretta, who was ever so carefully guiding a baby out of her mother. Addison had to be careful so as not to damage the skin flap she also held. Damn, women could be so delicate and vulnerable and fragile, she thought to herself as they finished and scrubbed out. She felt a surge of pride in herself rise warmly in her chest. She had done it all right and she couldn’t wait to do it all on her own when the time came.

Meredith had finally scrubbed in on a craniotomy with Derek and she felt awed and proud, even if it was just holding the attending’s tools while he worked ever so carefully and precisely. The expression on the face of the woman’s little daughter when the five-year-old had learned that her mama would be fine and that Doctor Derek had fixed her had been heartwarming and priceless. Meredith Grey knew in that very moment she was at least half-right about her plans for the future. She would almost certainly be pursuing neurosurgery, if not general too.  
Derek gave Meredith a hug. He was a lot less stoic and professional than his colleague, Dr. Jackson. He did give praise only when it was warranted, but he gave it in plenty. He was proud and his student could see it.  
“You just helped me save a life. How do you feel?” he asked, his eyes gleaming and glazed over a little with the adrenaline high he got from being in the operating room. Meredith had heard of the OR drug, but she had never seen it, let alone experienced it, until now. She felt on top of the freaking world, like she could take on her biggest fear, her worst insecurity, her most deep-seated doubt and survive to tell the tale.

“I feel great,” she said simply. That was the shortest, most precise and succinct way she could voice her current mix of feelings.  
“Especially—“ she started, before a smiling Derek cut in gently.  
“Let me guess. The look on Mandy’s face?”  
Meredith grinned, appreciating the fact that her teacher knew and could understand as well as her where she was coming from.  
“Yeah! That was exactly it,” she gushed.

Derek grinned at her enthusiasm and cleared his throat a little nervously.  
“Look, Meredith. I just wanted to ask you something. Would you like to go out for a drink with me this Saturday, your first night off?”

The younger doctor thought for a moment or two. She had promised Addison she would spend that night with her, watching old reruns of Star Trek with her, but she supposed a fifteen-minute drink would be fine. After all, she and Derek were just colleagues, or friends, or whatever you wanted to call this.  
“Sure. Just a couple of friends,” she said, smiling and hoping she made her intentions clear to Derek. The older man nodded, smiling.

The high of surgery, which hadn’t completely faded from Meredith’s blood gave her the courage to do something she had wanted to do all day. It was time, and she knew it.

She walked into the interns’ lounge where her redheaded friend sat at the table, chatting with Lugshmi and Jessie.  
“Addison Montgomery, will you go out with me this Saturday to the planetarium?” she asked, her hands on her hips and her head up. She meant for it to sound commanding and intimidating and seductive and confident, but it was more pleading and blurted out and rushed, like she hadn’t rehearsed it for a full ten minutes in the bathroom mirror before coming here.

Addison, looking confused for a moment, stared at Meredith. Then, she rose from her chair in a fluid, graceful motion and kissed Meredith soundly, right full on the lips.  
“I’ve been trying to tell myself it’s wrong, but hell fucking yeah I will,” she whispered breathlessly into the blonde’s ear.  
“Girlfriends?” Meredith was nervous and she felt stupid for the way she had worded the question. She felt like a middle schooler asking their crush out.  
“Girlfriends,” Addison agreed, a warm, glowing smile lighting up her features, making Meredith mirror the look.

Their friends looked over questioningly. After receiving a nod from the two young women, the others smiled and hugged their friends. Somehow, everyone knew: Things had changed irreversibly.


	4. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merison go on their first date. Sorry it isn't very long. Please enjoy. Keep on living and keep on smiling. :)

Meredith Grey was not the romantic type. Everyone who knew her even a little bit knew this very well. Everyone was aware that Meredith Grey, badass intern and tough-as-nails woman extraordinaire did not stand in front of a mirror and fawn over what to wear and how her reflection looked with a certain shade of makeup or another. And yet, that was exactly what she was doing. she was standing in front of the mirror in her room in the apartment she shared with her best friend, sister, and now girlfriend and she was freaking the fuck out. She was officially, completely and totally losing her shit. Every single bit of it.

She had planned an amazing (at least she hoped) night out for the two of them. Some people might consider it weird that the pair still saw themselves as sisters, but it was because they were so close. They knew every single tidbit of information about each other. They knew each other inside out, back to front, whatever.

The blonde had planned to take Addison out to the planetarium that was just three blocks away from the hospital. This meant they could enjoy a nice walk together and not rush, since it was their first night off. She had told Derek she couldn’t make it for drinks with him, to which news he had been surprisingly nonaggressive. Most people might have at least been angry, but Derek had just smiled and told her that they would have their “bonding time or whatever” during one of Meredith’s breaks that just might happened to coincide with one of his. She knew Derek wasn’t that great at being emotional and all (a lot like herself, actually) but she knew, somehow that he was sincere.

After putting on a pair of old washed-out skinny jeans and a low-cut top and swiping on a coat or two of strawberry lip gloss (Meredith’s dark and twisty side cringed just a little at that last thing) the blonde surgeon rapped a little apprehensively at the redhead’s door.

The door opened and Meredith almost fainted. Addison was wearing a long, beautiful dress of rose silk, paired with black flats and a wickedly huge light blue flower holding her hair in place behind her head in a stylish, elegant and very neat knot at the back of her head. Her lips were tinted the lightest red, as if she had just finished eating a couple of strawberries. Meredith had to almost literally physically restrain herself and resist the urge to kiss the redhead, which, Meredith could attest to was a very difficult thing for a lesbian woman to do in the presence of a beautiful bombshell such as the one before her. The two had recently talked and Meredith had realized she was exclusively attracted to women. She had thought she liked men as well, but that clearly wasn't the case.

“Whoa,” was all that Meredith could manage, her mouth wide open as she stared, dumbstruck, at Addison.  
The other surgeon laughed, snapping Meredith out of her reverie. She gave her girlfriend a look like “I wasn’t just staring at you, I swear!” but Addison just rolled her eyes affectionately.  
“I swear to God, you can be such an idiot sometimes, Grey,” she joked, kissing Meredith’s red cheek and taking her hand.   
“Let’s go,” she said, smiling warmly.

The couple left their apartment and started down the sidewalk.  
“So freaking Jessie took my yogurt yesterday,” Addison started, making the other woman laugh and poke Addison in the ribs good-naturedly.  
“That might be cause you leave it open for attack.”  
Addison looked at Meredith like “Huh?”   
“It’s just yogurt, Mer,” she answered, smiling fondly.  
Meredith nodded her head in comprehension.  
“I understand that information very well, Montgomery,” she retorted, shooting her partner a mock angry and exasperated look.  
“I treat things like this like a war because it makes sense. If you just hid the yogurt somewhere or even labeled it as yours, then people like Jessie wouldn’t really be tempted or able to take it,” she explained patiently, her tone of voice and her word choice that of someone explaining something relatively complex to a five-year-old.

Addison glared. “I am not a five-year-old, Meredith Grey,” she declared, stamping her foot and making Meredith burst into peals of laughter.  
“You sure as hell are acting like one,” she rejoined, smiling, the love in her eyes and her voice clear even to a blind person.  
“You just proved me right,” she added as Addison kept on glaring. The two looked at each other and burst into hysterical laughter. Neither of them could stop until they had reached the large, imposing building that was the Seattle Planetarium about two minutes later.

They had to stop and catch their breaths before going in.

After the viewing, they went home. Meredith couldn’t help but think, as she and Addison watched their favorite movie and ate Meredith’s homemade lasagna that she wouldn’t want to be anywhere but where she was right now and that she would never in a million years trade Addison Montgomery for anything. She was certain, judging by the other woman’s looks and her words that Addison felt the exact same way.


	5. Looking At Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title is from a song by country singer Kelsea Ballerini. I used it because, though I don't mention it, they are looking at the stars, as this takes place at night. Please enjoy. Keep on living and keep on smiling. :)

Meredith and Addison had been going out for a grand total of a month and they were far more than ecstatic. The word ecstatic couldn’t begin to describe their elation, their euphoria. In fact, Meredith had decided that there wasn’t a single word in the dictionary that could adequately, accurately and precisely describe how the two felt about each other.  
They were one of those couples that was disgustingly, cloyingly, adorably sweet. They would text each other every kind of smiley emoji that was available on their iPhone Sevens and they would give each other pet names and their PDA was arguably very overload. The fact that Meredith Grey, infamous for being stoic and reserved and not at all super affectionate was in a relationship with someone that was the complete opposite of all that was shocking to everyone she knew. The reality that she was engaging in the overload of affection and she was gradually changing lots of her beliefs and opening up more was downright astounding.

And for this reason, Meredith had planned something absolutely, positively spectacular to celebrate the fact that they had lasted this long together. She was excited and it was obvious to her coworkers and mentors.  
“Either sit still, stop fidgeting and pay attention or leave now, Grey,” Dr. Bailey snapped when it became apparent that Meredith’s mind was drifting away from her lessons yet again for the third time that afternoon.

Meredith looked apologetically at the older woman.  
“Sorry. It’s just—“  
Miranda held up a hand to stop her.  
“None of that from you, Grey,” she admonished, giving the blonde a stern yet understanding look. “I will not have you drifting while I’m trying to teach you. Also, I was your age once. I get it. In fact, I just got married and she makes my mind drift away from time to time too. Good luck.”

Meredith was understandably stunned and surprised beyond belief. It was, after all, downright unheard of for Miranda Bailey, a doctor that was notorious throughout the entire hospital for being professional and cold and harsh to be kind to anyone or tell anyone anything pertaining to her personal life, let alone an intern. The fact that she was an attending just added to the shock value and the appreciation Meredith had for the gesture. She didn’t have to, but she did it anyway.

After her shift had ended she went home to the apartment she shared with her wonderful girlfriend. Addison hadn’t gone in today. She had had a day off that had not coincided with Meredith’s this time.  
The two had texted in the morning and when Meredith could spare a moment and the blonde intern had missed her woman. Now, though, the fun was about to get started.

The redhead was sprawled out on the couch, munching on a family sized bag of Lays potato chips and sipping on a large can of Arizona ice tea, her eyes firmly glued to the television screen, which was currently displaying a gruesome battle between what appeared to be two aliens. They were green and deformed and they looked like they were fighting to the death. Even though Meredith was a surgeon and she wasn’t squeamish or anything, she could not seem to stomach Addie’s taste in TV and movies. Sometimes, though, they would compromise and watch something relatively tame. They would even occasionally spend a couple of hours together watching things like New Girl and Friends.

Addison switched off the television and got up to hug her partner, a beaming smile lighting up her face as she leaned in and kissed the blonde.

Meredith grinned. “I swear, you’re turning into Lyn,” she remarked, pointing at the bag of chips occupying the spot at Addison’s feet. The other woman beamed in response, then smirked with fake pride at her girlfriend.  
“Damn right I am,”she answered, provoking a rolling of eyes from Meredith.  
“Don’t sound proud of that,” she faux chided, swatting at Addison. The redhead laughed good-naturedly and deflected the hit.

“Come on, let’s go,” Meredith proclaimed, taking Addison’s warm hand in her own. The other intern smiled and followed Meredith out of the apartment.

They walked for a few blocks and sat down in an abandoned but obviously well-loved park. It turned out that Meredith had come out here earlier—Addison could not for the life of her figure out how Meredith had found the time, what with their busy schedules and all—and she had set up a picnic with all of their favorite things. The blanket, which was an old, beautifully kept and very well-made and extremely beloved thing made of soft fleecy material, was spread with chocolate-covered strawberries and peanut butter sandwiches and Ferrero Rocher. In Addition their was a giant bottle of Savignon Blanc and two wineglasses. Meredith had worked diligently to make the blanket. They would each take turns having it for a week while they were in college and therefore not as close to each other as they would have liked. Meredith had made it in her senior year of high school so that they would have something that would constantly remind them of each other. Addison had joked once or twice that they were sharing custody of their daughter Memory.  
“I get her this week, right?” the redheaded woman would ask into the phone, making her best friend laugh so hard she would sometimes pee her pants. Then, of course the same thing would happen to Addison because they shared most of their experiences.

Meredith leaned back now and inhaled the fresh scent of the sweet air. They were leaning against a tree and talking. Before either of them would have liked, the meal was over.  
“I love you, Addie,” Meredith said. Oddly enough, the words didn’t cause awkwardness or anything between them. They had Both said it enough times that it was only an extension of their love and affection for each other.  
“I love you too,” Addison responded before handing Meredith a box.

The other surgeon forgot that she was, in fact, an intern and she had earned a medical degree and she was an adult. She tore gleefully into the package, revealing a genuine silver chain bracelet with a heart-shaped locket hanging from it.  
“Open it,” Addison encouraged, smiling warmly at her woman. Meredith unclasped the beautiful, delicate little thing and gasped in delight and surprise. a miniscreen was nestled on the inside of the locket, surrounded by a red velvet lining. The screen flashed pictures of all the memories they had shared—over a decade’s worth of moments. There was the pair graduating, getting accepted to medical school, finding out they were going to Washington D.C. together on the class trip, helping each other through family troubles—the list was never-ending.

Wiping away the tears that rolled down her cheeks and nose, Meredith lunged forward and hugged Addison tightly. The redhead smiled and kissed the tears away. “You are so welcome,” she said. Both of them knew the extent of Meredith’s gratitude and thanks; it did not have to be said out loud.

The couple walked home together in a contented silence, just enjoying each other’s company. They knew, perhaps now more than ever that they would not give this up for the universe.


	6. A surprising proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things move along.

It had been six months now an Meredith hadn’t been happier in her entire life. Sure, she had come extremely close when she had gotten into medical school and all, but dating Addison Montgomery was like a drug. She found herself smiling more than she frowned and she surprisingly didn’t mind at all. Ordinarily, she would have, since Meredith Grey was not the type to be caught dead perpetually not dark and twisty, but things were different now. She had always loved Addie, but now she could love her in other ways. Let’s just say, the sex is amazing.

The blonde rolled over in bed to find the other side cold where it was usually warm. She heard sounds coming from the kitchen, so she knew Addison wasn’t out or anything. Besides, the pair were off today, a rare break from the hustle and bustle of being a surgical intern.

Getting out of bed and wandering down the stairs, still a little groggy due to the fact that she just woke up, Meredith found her girlfriend making breakfast, humming cheerfully to herself. Listening closely, Meredith realized it was “Marry Me” by Jason Derulo. That made her smile. Maybe it was a clue that Meredith wasn’t the only one extremely happy with their current relationship.

“You’re making strawberry pancakes?” Meredith exclaimed, beside herself with glee. Addison’s strawberry pancakes were legendary in the Grey-Montgomery household. There was just something warm and comforting about them that just could not b e put into words.  
“Hell yeah,” was the redhead’s answer. “What did you expect from a day off?”

Grinning, Meredith dug into her plate, savoring the deliciousness before her in more ways than one. Besides the food, Addison Montgomery was seated next to her, still wearing her apron. In Meredith’s world, Addison wearing an apron was probably the sexiest thing imaginable.

The two relaxed for a little while before Addison leaned in to kiss her woman.  
“What do you say we go out on a lunch date after this movie is over?” She asked, running her hand over Meredith’s hair. The blonde was still a little disconcerted at how easily she accepted the affectionate gesture.  
Nodding, she leaned in and returned Addison’s kiss. They were currently watching Free Held, a great lesbian flick. Meredith was awed and delighted at the talent of the actors, though the story was very sad. She was glad that they were living in a time where gay marriage and gay rights were a lot better, if not perfect.

The couple got up and got ready to go to lunch at their favorite place. It was a little restaurant was a cross between a fancy eatery and a casual diner. It was more of a living satire on those fancy gourmet places you might see in a romantic movie.

Getting a table, Meredith and Addison talked and laughed over everything and nothing at all, just as they always did, except now they were holding hands and kissing and giving each other loving and flirtatious looks.  
In retrospect, Meredith should have figured out what Addison was going to do long before it happened, yet she was completely oblivious. Therefore, she watched in complete shock as Addison reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a little black box with red velvet lining on the inside.  
“Will you marry me, Meredith Grey?” She asked, her voice thick and husky with emotion and a little fear.

Meredith Grey was not the kind of girl to be easily surprised. That’s why Addison was a little taken aback when she slid out of her chair and Addison had to brace her. “Oh my God!!!!!!!” She squealed like a teenager and threw herself at her girlfriend—no, no, corection, her fiancée! Meredith didn’t usually scream, so this was a shock to both of them, but in a good way.  
“I love you so much,” Meredith said sincerely as she looked deeply into Addison’s eyes. The redhead’s eyes were currently pouring buckets of tears, just like the romantic movies the couple used to binge watch when they were teens. “I love you too, Mer. I love you too,” was all Addison could manage through her tears.

The couple drove home in complete bliss, Meredith admiring her beautiful gold ring, which had two little diamonds set in the middle. Addison admitted to stashing money under the mattress so that Meredith wouldn’t see it. Her fiancée—Meredith could not get used to even thinking that!!!—swatted her playfully on the arm. “You’re amazeing, you know that?” She said, her expression and her tone completely genuine as she looked with complete Love at Addison, who was driving.

The other woman laughed. “Hell yeah I do,” she teased, making Meredith burst out laughing too.  
“There isn’t anyone else I would rather spend this life with than you,” she said seriously. Addison nodded. “Trust me, Grey,” the feeling is mutual.”


End file.
